Cable clamp



NOV' 9,1948 R. A. .ILIACKATHORN 2,453,432

CABLE CLAMP Filed March 6, 1947 W N @W Patented Nov. 9, 1948 UNITED STATES lPA'l-'EIWPv Y l CABLE CLAMP y Robert vA. Hackathorn, Grosse Pointe Woods,

` lMich., assignor to Crawford Door Company,

Detroit, Mich., `a corporation of Michigan Application March e, 1947, serial No. 732,747

This invention relates to a clamp for anchorr ing flexible strand material such as ropes, cables, and the like.

Specifically the invention deals with arope or `cable clamp composed of amale andl a female part, which are inexpensively formed by stamping operations on metal strip stock and will not longitudinal flanges along the length thereof. The web or back is stamped to raise transverse ribs or humps thereacross between the flanges and near the ends thereof. This stamping operation forms grooves inthe outer face` of the web and deflects the ends of the web to provide beveled inlet mouths. A pair of longitudinally aligned, spaced bolt holes are punched through the base or web of the female part between the transverse humps or ribs thereof. A male member is stamped from strip stock of a width sized for fitting between the flanges of the female member, and has a transverse hump or ribintermediate the ends thereof together with bolt holes on opposite sides of the humps. The stamping of the rib or hump is eiected by forming agroove in the opposite face of `the male member, and `this stamping operation slightly deects the `male member to form inclined wings on opposite sides of the hump.

Two portions of a cable, such as the leg portions of a loop in the cable, are seated in the female member and held against lateral spreading by l 'the flanges thereof. The bolts pass between the legs of the cable in the female member to separate them, and the male member is received on the bolts to cover the lengths of the cable in the female member. Nuts threaded on the bolts act on the male `member to draw it toward the web or backof the female member, whereupon the transverse humps of the male and female members will cooperate to form a wave or corrugation in the confined lengths of the cable` legs thereby tightly locking the legs against relative movement and maintaining the loop. Tlghtening of the nuts somewhat` deiiects the wingsof the male member to atten the same, and the'inherent springiness of the metal of the male member resists this deiiection to coact `with the nuts in the nature of a lock washer, thereby eliminating thenecessity for additional lock washer partsl thereby.

and at the same time providing a lock construe# tion. i K i A feature of the inventionresides in the PIQ- vision of outwardly flared or beveled inleqand exit mouthson the clamp, so that no biting action on the cableY strands will resultV even though the cable rubs on the clamp parts. These beveled mouths are obtained by the stamping or embossing operations which form the grippinghurnps or ribs on the clamp parts, and no other operations are necessary. p p i. u i

"Another feature of the invention resides `in lthe provisionof a rope or cable clamp having waveline or corrugating grippingaction without biting intothe gripped members. .4

A further feature of the invention resides; n

the provision of inclnedlwings.ona'fmale griijl pingmember whichjare `adapted to be resiliently deflected under clamping pressureswto serve as lockwashers. y l, f.

An object of the inventioniis to producean inexpensive cable or rope clamp-by `stanfiping operations Malone onl conventional strip )metal stock. i

Ygether with a male parttting betweenV the side anges of the female part and having a transverse gripping rib with inclined.resilientlyfdeectable wings on each side of the ribs for.coacting` with nut andbolt assemblies to be resiliently deflected Other and further objects of theinvention `will beapparent to those skilled in the Y art `from `the following detailed description of` the :annexed sheet of drawings which, by way `of `a` preferred example only, illustrates oneembodiment `of'ffthe invention. 1. i

On the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective viewpf thel ciai'ip `showing the parts in assembled relationshipl on thetwolegsof aloopedcable. z

VFigure 2 is an explodedperspectiveView showtwee e is" df the 4male a@ p2;

tin from trie rin mii Figure 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional View of the lclamp and cable assembly of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a side elevational View of the male member of the clamp.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the female member of the clamp.

As shown-onfthe drawings: t Y

In Fig""res"l to 3"inclusive, the"`referencenul meral I 0 designates generally a clamp assembly according to this invention composed of a female part I I, a male part I2, and two nut and bolt as semblies I3. in Figures 1 and 2 in gripping relationship on the legs L1 and L2 of a looped cable C The clamp holds these legs L1 and Lz in fixed? position rela'u tive to each other for retaining the loop in the cable even when the loop is sljctedttnsioi The female part II flanges Ila, IIa on a back or web portibn I'Ib. An open-.ended channel is thus formed. The filari'gfes`V` III', lil'a arspacedaparta' suflbie'r-t dis'l trance forwreceiving 4the male part I2 therebeangles to the backm or base weib I ib of" erale art, d are*l sufficiently g'h" so that-the" male meister' wiiri-eboiiridednie eey when acting on bler'rope' of diameter for whichltle was:l designedi It will be appreciated, of i that tie clamp' can* dcriirbdat' cables or ropes erv many dineren-i diteinersl ue ida lfiirrliiiig embossing, or stamping' operadora 'The web Flfl aV pair' f l'ole'si Illia,v FIe punched therethrough between the ribs I l;` FI. "line eri-tire1V female pair-ti Ifll inexpensively Formed frorn 'al strip'stoelt by' ai stamping and ehigf operati" The male part-jV F25 isl al rct eniiveriieiiey' stain- "1 f angular' in tal piece st pl stbcle of g iri ine female part Iii n lidi; I-Iathereo, ahic'eteri'sii`n length with the female? parte rA transverse rib I2a is stamped acros'is`v the entrer seinen er" une sari-1 iz aan is fonts-fil by anr non assenti-y r is compases of regs estese ever nie ribs me.

The cable clamp Ill is illustratfecl*v has longitudinal side The male part i2 is inserted between the flanges IIa of the female part on top of the legs L1 and L2 of the cable, and its rib IZa. engages the legs L1 and L2 between the parts engaged by the ribs IIc of the female part. The shanks of the bolts i3d are inserted through the holes IIe and I2C of the female and male parts respectively, and the nuts I-Sb are' threaded on theA projecting ends of the bolt Shanks to engage the wings 12b of the male member. The nuts are then tightened against the wings to deflect the wings, causing tlrii to assume a more attened position than their ,originally unstressed inclined position.

'This' atteni'ng of' the wings is resisted by the l saine-.f The inclined wing arrangement thereby avoids" the necessity for using lock washers.

As the nut and bolt assemblies are tightened, to di"aw'-th male and female clamp' par-ts together, the ribs: cntheV respective clampA parts coact to have a corrugated or wave-likev gripping act-ion" on the* cableleg's L1' andLz als best shown in Figurel 3. As therein shown, the cable `legs are gripped?y on one' side byV two ribs, and? on the other side byV4 'a single intermediate rib. The gripping action', however, is along a roufridedr biii'nthump, so niain'o biting into the capre strands will occur.

As shown irrrig'ures i and 3; the eiarnpifwnen assembled in clamped relationship on the cable C, has bevel-edi or haring inlet and exit'mouths it and" le for ai@ een@ regs Li andV L2. Tessin@ inclined wings IZbv of the malemember and the lipsld`4` of the female member diverge away from each other and provide a rounded" entranceor enit for the cable legs so that they will not be eiseres' or' cui as tney-swing or' twist reiative to tlieclamp. This feature is; quite impcrtantgsinc'e the cable can ru-b onthe clamp withno deleterious results;

'Iiief side nanges ma, sia" or' olie' female pari I i conliie'the cable legs Liv and lz against-lateral spreadingA and also4 receive tli'e male membel1 `I2 ther'ebetweenA to cbact with the web l-Ebto hold the legs'A inV the channel.l The bolt Shanks extend betwelen'these legs lir and Le, tl'ierebyV keeping them separated so that they cannot rub' against each other. ThisA arrangement protects the clamped lengths of the legs'fagainst chan'g ac'- iioii, and further preserves the Original Condition of inesatte; n o y From the above descriptions it will be under` stood that the invention affords an inexpensive ystar'nped metalv cable clampv that will not bite or otherwise injure a cable or rope, and that does not need locking washers to prevent unauthorized looseningofthe assembly;

ItY will',l ofl course,u be understood that various details of construction may be Varied through a wide riarrgezwithoutv departing from1 the principles of this invention and it is', therefore; not thepurpose tolim'it the patent` granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope ofthe appended claim.

lfclaim as my invention: Y

A' cla-mp adapted for anchoring the legs of a looped cable or rope without damaging thesame which comprises a female mem-ber having longitudinally extending'side flanges on one side of a baclr'webportion and coacting,` with the web portion to provide an` open-ended channel, said web portion having' hollow`v ribsv extendingtransversely 5 across the `channel near the ends thereof, said ribs having rounded blunt contours, inclined lips on said web portion at the ends of the channel, a male plate member sized for tting in said channel between said flanges of the female member, said male plate member having a hollow transverse rounded blunt rib across the midportion thereof together with inclined wings on opposite sides of the rib for coacting with said lips to form flaring mouths at the ends of the channel, said web portion of the female mem-ber having a pair of holes therethrough on the longitudinal axis thereof and between said ribs thereon, said male plate member having holes on opposite sides of the rib thereof and arranged for 15 registration with the holes in the web, and nut and bolt assemblies adapted to cooperate with said male and female parts through `said holes to draw the parts together to exert a corrugated or wave-like gripping action on a cable or rope in the channel while springing the Wings of the male part against the nuts with lock Washer effect.

ROBERT A. HACKATHORN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 545,682 Coram 1-- Sept. 3, 1895 944,718 Crosby Dec. 28, 1909 1,103,056 Kobert July 141, 1914 1,196,163 Simmon Aug. 29, 1916 1,321,660 Moriarty 1 Nov. 11, 1919 1,730,197 Elsey Oct. 1., 1929 2,426,859 Case Sept. 2,1947

FOREIGN PATENTS 20 Number Country Date 20,138 France July 22, 1916 

